1: Orthography
-
A a = /a/
-
B b = /b/
-
C c = /t͡ɕ/
-
D d = /θ/
-
E e = /e/
-
F f = /ɸ/
-
G g = /g/
-
I i = /i/
-
Ī ī = /ɪ/
-
J j = /ɮ/
-
K k = /k/
-
L l = /l/
-
M m = /m/
-
N n = /n/ (comes after
“a/i/o/u/ū” to make them nasal)
-
O o = /ɔ/
-
P p = /p/
-
R r = /ɾ/
-
S s = /s/
-
T t = /t/
-
U u = /ʊ/
-
Ū ū = /y/
-
W w = /w/
-
Y y = /j/
-
Z z = /z/
2: Understanding of grammatical syntax
2a: Relative
pronouns and sentence order
All sentences are described in only two
persons for their first subject nouns - 1st (“me”) and 2nd (“you”) - even those
which do not directly involve these. In the latter instances, the two persons
refer to whoever the action is physically closer to, or more in relation to;
for example, if the person who is being spoken to can observe, in a way, the
action being described, the verb takes the 2nd person, whereas if not, the 1st
person is used.
The common sentence order is OSV - for
instance, “you make X” becomes “X make-2nd”. If a prepositional noun relates to
the subject or object, it follows the relevant noun. Thus, “I, with him, make
X” becomes “with-near X make-1st”.
2b:
Non-person sentences and recursives
For sentences not directly involving either
object, such as “X does Y”, these are treated as subordinate/recursive clauses,
with the relevant person (the use of which is discussed in 2a) used with a
linking verb, such as “to see” or “to describe”.
As an example of how these are arranged:
-
I see X do Y/I see X
which is doing Y = See-Y X do-1st
-
You see X do Y/You see
X which is doing Y = See-Y do-2nd X (in 2nd-person subordinates, the order
becomes OVS)
We can see that the marker of a recursive
clause is attaching the recursive object as a suffix (discussed in 3b) to the
primary verb, while applying the appropriate person to the final verb.
For subordinate clauses marked with “which”
in English, such as:
-
I see X, which knows Z,
do Y = See-Y know-Z-X do-1st
-
I see X, which knows
that A helped Z, do Y = See-Y know-Z A help-X do-1st
-
You see, which knows
that A helped Z, do Y = See-Y know-Z do-1st help-X
2c: Predicates
Predicates (“to be”) are not shown with a
verb, but in the following way:
-
X is Y = Y-X X
An auxiliary verb, “kaun”, is inflected in a
single neutral person to demonstrate other tenses with X and Y. A similar verb,
“lan”, is inflected to show predicates with the pronouns.
For adjectives in the predicate, like “the
cat is tall”, the adjective is simply put before the subject noun and the
suffix “-t” is added. For pronoun-adjective predicates, “lan” is again used.
2d: Indirect/intransitive
expression
For intransitive verbs, structures such as
these are used (fortunately, there are very few of these, as most verbs of
motion simply incorporate prepositions):
-
I see X run to Y =
see-inf X-impresent run-1st-Y
Noun presence will be explained in 3a.
For verbs with a direct and indirect object,
structures like this are used:
-
I see X give Y to Z =
See-Y (*) Z X give-1st
*When not “to”, the preposition is indicated
with an adjective.
3: Nouns
3a: Plurality
and presence
All nouns have a general plural, and are
inflected for a third verb person, roughly equivalent to pronoun “one” in
English - although it still occurs in relation to 1st and 2nd person with
verbs, it is used (with the subject) to indicate an action as a question of the
presence/possibility of something. This “one” form is known as the “impresent”.
Nouns ending in vowels (including nasal
vowels) and “y”/”w” all take the same pattern of endings (for example, “bi”
(“ox”)):
Std.
|
Imp.
|
|
Sg.
|
Bi
|
Bis
|
Pl.
|
Bik
|
Bizi
|
Nouns ending in consonants are split into
soft (s, z, f, d, l, j, shown left) and hard (p, b, t, k, g, c, r, m, n, shown
right), with the examples “aj” (“mind”, “spirit”) and “nīt” (“wind”):
Std.
|
Imp.
|
Std.
|
Imp.
|
|
Sg.
|
Aj
|
Aje
|
Nīt
|
Nīta
|
Pl.
|
Ajag
|
Aji
|
Nītīg
|
Nīti
|
3b: Suffixed
(recursive) form
Every noun also has a suffix form, used in
constructions indicated with “see-Y” in 2b. This suffix is formed by adding
“-wa” to the end of the original noun, and “d-” at the beginning if it starts
with a vowel - if it starts with a unvoiced consonant, it is voiced, but if not
remains the same.
3c: Pronouns
In order to form plural pronouns, articles
meaning “with you”, “ey”, and “with me”, “so”, exist, to be added to the
subject. These can also be used as object forms, when prefixed with “ta-”.
4: Verbs
4a: Verb
patterns
There are four verb “forms”:
-
General: used for
questioning, instructing, or simply describing actual events
-
Subjunctive: used for
wishes and hopeful possibilities (equivalent to “should”)
-
Necessitative:
equivalent to “must”
-
Hypothetical:
describing fictional events, or equivalent to “would”
All verbs have an infinitive ending in “-n”,
with any vowel preceding it. A common example of a verb is “gun”, “to accept”,
or “one accepts”. These can be used to refer to neutral events in the general
tense, especially coupled with the impresent form discussed in 3a, but rarely.
1st
|
2nd
|
|
Gen.
|
Gud
|
Gur
|
Sub.
|
Guc
|
Gut
|
Nec.
|
Guya
|
Guyu
|
Hyp.
|
Gus
|
Guki
|
An uncommon second class of verbs ending in
“-an”, such as “ajan”, “to be cunning”, take a somewhat different conjugation -
the verb “kaun” takes the 2nd person form as its only form, being the only verb
to do so.
1st
|
2nd
|
|
Gen.
|
Ajat
|
Ajut
|
Sub.
|
Ajac
|
Ajuc
|
Nec.
|
Ajay
|
Ajuy
|
Hyp.
|
Ajak
|
Ajuk
|
5: Adjectives and adverbs
Adjectives and adverbs do not heavily differ
from nouns, although when they are in such a function, they come before the
noun/verb to which they are attached. Most adverbs referring to motion or
quality, such as “quickly”, “well”, “poorly”, are incorporated into the verb.
The only suffix most adjectives take is the predicative suffix, described in
2c. A handful of colours and numbers take “-u” as a suffix.
6: Numerals 1-10
-
Yac
-
Ar
-
Aw
-
Telu
-
Kosu
-
Oyu
-
Asdu
-
Nidu
-
Keru
-
Jey
